Compare the 10 Best Fryers - August 2017

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Every week we analyse the technical specs, reviews and prices of every fryer on the market in the US to determine our top 10 list. In total we compared over 306 fryers, 381 reviews and 510 prices. Last updated 15 August 2017.

Fryer Buying Guide

Fryers use very hot oil to cook food quickly and thoroughly - the food is quickly cooked by the hot oil, often resulting in a crispy outside, but a tender inside. Most people connect home fryers with chips - allowing you to easily recreate the crispy, fluffy chips found in restaurants and cafes. However they can be used for many other different types of food, including fish, vegetables, samosas or chicken. Due to the high temperatures involved in the cooking procedure, modern fryers have significant safety features to minimise the chance of accidents, and contain pre-set modes for the most commonly-cooked foods.

Capacity

All our fryers have a food capacity, measured in kilograms. The larger the capacity, the more food you can cook in one go - this may be especially useful for large families. However larger fryers also have a significantly larger footprint, and so will take up more counter space in your kitchen.

Power Levels

All of our fryers are given a power level, rated in watts. The higher the wattage, the more power the fryer has. This translates to faster and more efficiently cooked food, but also to higher electricity bills. Fryers tend to be quite power hungry, so it may be prudent not to automatically buy the device with the highest power - a good mid-point between power and cost-efficiency is important.

Low Fat & Air Frying

While traditionally deep fat frying has been seen as an immensely unhealthy form of cooking, there are several healthier options available. Low fat fryers are specially designed to use less oil than standard fryers, meaning the resulting food has a lower calorie count, and is therefore healthier. Under these systems a single teaspoon of oil will suffice for an entire portion of chips, so the calorie count can be a mere fraction of what it would be using a traditional method.

A growing section of the healthy frying market is so-called ‘air’ fryers - a range of cookers that use superheated air to fry the food instead of oil. Because they use very little or no oil (some models use a very small amount of oil to 'kick start' the air heating) the resulting food is far lower in calories and fat. Indeed, tests have shown that with a 300g portion of chips, airfrying reduced the calories from 717 to 576! Also, because they don’t use oil you don’t have to worry about disposing of the used frying oil - which makes them far more ecologically friendly as well.

Generally speaking these low-fat and air fryers are more expensive than their traditional counterparts. However, given how much lower in both calories and fat the resulting food is, the health benefits may far outweigh the extra expenditure.

Easy-to-Clean

Finally, given that even the healthiest fryer produces a lot of grease and mess, it is a good idea to clean the fryer after every use. Therefore it may be helpful to check that your chosen model is marked as easy-to-clean, meaning that it has been designed for stress-free cleaning. Some models even have parts that are safe to put in the dishwasher, making them extremely easy to clean and take care of.

Fryer Retailers, Prices and Features

Fryer Prices

The price range of fryers is from $0 to $510 and in total we found prices for 28 fryers. The average price of a new fryer is $137 and the 80% of fryers are priced between $0 and $409. The Tefal AH9518 is the cheapest fryer at only $0, and Philips HD9641 is the most expensive at $510.

Fryer Brands - Price Range

The %8highest average fryer price out of all brands is Philips fryers with an average price of $176. Philips fryers start at $0 and the most expensive Philips fryer costs $510.

The %8highest average fryer price out of all brands is Cuisinart fryers with an average price of $64. Cuisinart fryers start at $64 and the most expensive Cuisinart fryer costs $64.

The average price of DeLonghi fryers is $43 which is the third highest average price of all fryer brands. DeLonghi fryers range in price from $130 to $190.

Fryer Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 14 expert reviews and 341 user reviews for fryers and used these reviews to evaluate the average rating for each brand of fryer. The top three fryer brands are Sage, Tefal and Princess. Sage has an average rating of 89%, Tefal has an average rating of 89% and Princess has an average rating of 85%.

Biggest Fryer Retailers

We found 16 current offers for fryers from eBay making it the biggest fryer retailer. That is over 8 times bigger than the second biggest retailer, Overstock for whom we found 2 current offers for fryers. The third biggest retailer is Newegg US with 2 current fryer offers.

When Are Most New Fryers Released?

We couldn't see any evident pattern in the release dates for new fryers over the last 3 years. March was the biggest month last year for new fryers, with 23 new fryers released that month. The biggest month in 2015 for new fryer releases was July, with 27 new fryers released that month. In 2014 most new fryers were released in September, with 21 new fryers released that month.

How Fast Do Fryer Prices Drop After Release?

On average fryers drop in price by 8% in the first 6 months after release. If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of $3 on a typical $31 new fryer by waiting 6 months before buying.

Capacities

This denotes how much food the fryer can hold at once, measured in litres.

Across the range of fryers, the capacities range from 0.8L to 16L. The capacities of most fryers range from 2.3L to 3.8L. The Frifri1905 Duo Fil, which currently retails for $0.00, has the biggest capacity and is a 3.5L capacity fryer. The Frifri1905 Duo Fil, which is priced at $409.04, has the smallest capacity and is a 0.8L capacity fryer.

The bigger the capacity of the fryer, the more food can be cooked at once.

Powers

This is the power level of the fryer, measured in watts.

The powers of fryers range from 200W to 6,500W. The powers of most fryers range from 1,200W to 1,600W. The Frifri1905 Duo Fil, which is priced at $0.00, has the biggest power and is a 3,200W fryer. The fryer with the smallest power is the Frifri1905 Duo Fil, which is an 840W fryer and is priced at $113.89.

Generally speaking, a higher power level means that the fryer will be more powerful, heating the oil to higher temperatures faster, and cooking the food more efficiently so that it doesn't spend as much time sitting in the oil, meaning it will be (somewhat) healthier.

Types

We found 110 fryers that are Single fryers, which makes this the most common type amongst new fryers. We found 11 fryers that are Double fryers, making Double the second most frequently found type amongst new fryers.

Biggest Fryer Retailers

The biggest fryer retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 16 current fryer offers from eBay. The second biggest fryer retailer is Overstock with 2 offers. That means eBay is over 8 times bigger than Overstock when it comes to fryers. Newegg US is the third biggest retailer with 2 current offers.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Fryers?

The cheapest store by number of fryer for which they offer the cheapest price is v with the cheapest price on 15 fryers.

Proportion of Fryers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

The cheapest store by number of fryer for which they offer the cheapest price is eBay with the cheapest price on 93.8% of its fryers.